A MYSTERIOUS Israeli military strike on a suspected nuclear site in Syria
last month was opposed by Condoleezza Rice, the American secretary of state,
because she feared it would destabilise the region, according to a report this
weekend.

Rice persuaded the Israelis to delay their operation, but not to call it off,
after US officials were presented with “jaw-dropping” evidence of Syrian nuclear
activity, the report said.

The Sunday Times revealed two weeks ago that Israeli commandos had seized
samples of nuclear material, said to be of North Korean origin, during a daring
raid on a Syrian military facility to prove to the Americans that an air attack
was essential.

According to ABC News, Rice led the opposition inside the Bush administration
to the Israeli strike, persuading them to shelve initial plans to hit the Syrian
facility in the week of July 14.

The nuclear samples seized by ground commandos remain unidentified, but
defence and intelligence sources in Washington believe they may have been
connected to uranium enrichment.

Ilan Berman, a Middle East expert at the American Foreign Policy Council,
said: “The consensus is that Israel struck a nuclear facility and the
probability is that it was linked to enriching uranium.”

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A MYSTERIOUS Israeli military strike on a suspected nuclear site in Syria
last month was opposed by Condoleezza Rice, the American secretary of state,
because she feared it would destabilise the region, according to a report this
weekend.

Rice persuaded the Israelis to delay their operation, but not to call it off,
after US officials were presented with “jaw-dropping” evidence of Syrian nuclear
activity, the report said.

The Sunday Times revealed two weeks ago that Israeli commandos had seized
samples of nuclear material, said to be of North Korean origin, during a daring
raid on a Syrian military facility to prove to the Americans that an air attack
was essential.

According to ABC News, Rice led the opposition inside the Bush administration
to the Israeli strike, persuading them to shelve initial plans to hit the Syrian
facility in the week of July 14.

The nuclear samples seized by ground commandos remain unidentified, but
defence and intelligence sources in Washington believe they may have been
connected to uranium enrichment.

Ilan Berman, a Middle East expert at the American Foreign Policy Council,
said: “The consensus is that Israel struck a nuclear facility and the
probability is that it was linked to enriching uranium.”